05a Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai, India

Questions: 1. can you identify identify the key factor factors s that have have led to Arav Aravind's ind's succes success? s? • • • • • •

Reach to the patients through their marketing strategies. Facilities provided at low cost Taking care of each and every thing that the patient will require Dedication to the field which they are doing Way they get the new technologies in the rural areas at an affordale price. !ighly efficient doctors and right person for the right "o.

2. what has Dr. Dr. V's role role been been in in all thi this? s?

Dr # after his retirement as a head of department of ophthalmology at the government medical college wanted to start a non$profit eye hospital that provides quality eye$care. Dr # started with %& ed capacity with his sister Dr 'atchair and Dr 'am. From %& ed in ()*+ to %,& ed in ()-( slowly and steadily the capacity was increased. Dr # mortgaged his house and funded the ground floor of the hospital and slowly and steadily with the revenues uilt the other sections of the hospital. )& of their annual udget is funded y the hospital/s revenue. The hospital has speciality speciality clinics in the areas of retina0 vitreous diseases0 cornea0 glaucoma0 squint corrections0 diaetic retinopathy and pediatric ophthalmology. ophthalmology. 1ll these departments are headed y  y one of the family memers of 2r #. 1ll these hospitals are well equipped with modern equipments imported from.... 2r # ensured that all the medical staff worked oth in main hospital3chargeale4 as well as free hospital so that they get same quality qualit y of eye care. Thirteen ophthalmologists on the hospital/s staff were related to Dr. #. #. Dr # ensured that the hospital staff e tota lly committed and dedicated to the mission of the 1ravind !ospital0 Dr # elieved in  pushing surgeons to put put in e5tra hours and train them y giving them them practical e5posure. Dr # ensured that the clinical staff and support staff treat their work as a spiritual e5perience so that the poor people do not have to rie the support staff like in private and government hospitals. 2r # also set up 1uro la to manufacture the integral part of 6776 surgery so that cost comes down sustantially. Dr # also envisioned aout eye camps and hence invested in the infrastructure0 such as the vans and the equipment and committed doctors to support the demand they got from philanthropic individuals and organi8ations. Dr # also chaired the camp organi8ers meeting once a week and would find the reasons if a particular camp did not perform well. 3. how do you evaluate evaluate the quality quality of of service service at the7 free free hosital? hosital? At At the ayin! ayin! hosital? hosital?

7omplicated cases Facility

2ain !ospital

Free !ospital

9es

'o

upport taff

ame as it is periodically rotated

ame as it is periodically rotated

;utpatient facility

;rgani8ed


;T

=ess crowded

2ore crowded

>;=

inserted the >;= ?intraocular   Removed with a cryogenic lens@0 and carefully sutured device and the incision was the incision sutured. >;= is not inserted

aphakic glasses

'ot required as >;= is fitted

Aed

!as ed facility for post operations

Detailed records

aphakic glasses is given  'o ed facility

Detailed records are maintained

". what has been the role of Aravind's clinical and suort staff in all this? are they dedicated and altruistic or do they have an ulterior #otive?

The support staffs in 1ravind/s eye hospital are dedicated and altruistic as they are recruited and trained from scratch y 1ravind eye hospital. They don/t come from nursing schoolB the organi8ation provides training for them. >t is like getting a prestigious degree and "o training all in one. =ike 2r. # the service that the staff dedicates is like serving humanity and eing spiritual. $. Are there any weaknesses at all with the Aravind #odel of deliverin! eye care?

1ravind/s way of delivering eye care has a prolem of sustainaility. 2ost of the free care services were possile due to target costing y reducing the cost y keeping it at the minimum. >t is important that the organi8ation collects ma"or sponsorship and donation so that it can keep on providing quality service to the poor and needy. 1 dedicated team to look after that is essential. %. &ow are its satellite hositals are irunelveli (best labeled )Valley* and heni doin!?

Tirunelveli$ 1ravind/s tirunelveli hospital though has cash flows yet it cannot ear the cost of capital. >n spite of relying on 2adurai for uying equipments it cannot sustain high cost of capital. Tirunelveli has etter design layout than 2adurai and free and paying hospital for enefiting from economies of scale and also higher utili8ation of the surgical facility.

Tirunleveli has C+ paying customers and + free customers in terms of screening. *, of the surgeries conducted are free. Theni$ Theni has a edding capacity of (&&. 2anaging the hospital was easy as it is located in Dr 'am/s home town which indirectly ensured proper supervision from him and also the facility was small Theni has a proper mi5 of ,& paying and ,&free patients in terms of screening. *, of the surgeries conducted are free. 7. how are its eye ca#s erfor#in!?

The eye camps are conducted with local community support. The sponsor creates the awareness in the neighouring area regarding the camps and ears the pulicity costs as well as other costs associated with the camp like transportation0 food0 aphakic glasses >n addition0 the sponsors also paid for the costs of transporting0 feeding0 and ringing ack the patients selected for surgery. This portion was estimated at Rs. %&& per patient. 1ravind ore the costs of surgery and medicines. 6arlier the response rate was less when such camps were held ecause of the following reasons:

o therefore0 aravind eye requested the sponsorers to ear transportation0 food and aphakic glasses to e worn y patient after surgery. >n addition0 1ravind camp organi8ers0 as well as local community elders0 e5plained and reassured the patients regarding the importance of the surgery and the other logistics involved. Aus trips were so organi8ed that individuals from the same or neary villages were always clustered in the same us trip0 which reduced the need for anyone to accompany the patients. They were all returned together after three or four days. This estalished a support group during their recovery phase. 1 team from 1ravind returned for follow$up after three months. +. how should Dr. V e,and the Aravind #odel to other arts of -ndia Asia and Africa?

Other parts of India • • •

Dr # should first do a market research of areas affected y eyesight and loss of vision. !e should try estalishing hospitals at such places with affordale cost. !e should have a team set up to get sponsorship for such eye camps.

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• • •

!e has to recruit ophthalmologist who see this profession as spirituality and serve humanity in their professional capacity. !ave a team of dedicated support staff  7reate awareness aout the importance of eye care through sponsors etc With the profitaility should uild another free hospital

9. connect this case with /c0insey 7 fra#ework